1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a weatherstrip disposed between a movable body component and an aperture formed in a body of an automobile, and more particularly, to a weatherstrip assembly for preventing a displacement of a weatherstrip in its installation position relative to the body aperture or the body component and for improving the efficiency of weatherstrip installation.
2. Related Art
Movable body components such as a door, a hood, a trunk lid are mounted on the body of an automobile. In this connection, the body is formed with apertures corresponding to such body components. A weatherstrip is mounted about the body aperture or the body component to prevent wind, rain, water, dust or the like from getting into the interior of the body by way of the clearances between the body aperture and the associated body component, reduce a shock impact at the time of opening and closing the body components, and prevent vibration of the body components during the running of the automobile.
For example, a door weatherstrip is attached to the periphery of a door of an automobile. The door has an installation seat adapted to be fixed to a weatherstrip holding portion 102 formed in door 101 and has a sealing lip formed integrally with the installation seat, as shown in FIG. 1. Typically, the door 101 is supported through hinges 103 by the body for rotation about the vertical axis passing through the hinges. Upon closure of the door 101, a force exerted toward the rear side of the door is applied, as shown by an arrow F in FIG. 2, to a corner portion 210 of a weatherstrip 201 which corresponds to a corner portion 110 of the door 101. A lip 203 formed in the weatherstrip corner portion 210 may therefore be displaced from its original installation position, as shown by a two-dotted chain line in FIG. 2, after years of use during which the door 101 is repeatedly opened and closed. This causes a degraded external appearance and a degraded sealing ability of the weatherstrip.
To obviate these problems, the weatherstrip 201 is generally fixed to the door 101 by inserting clips 220 (FIG. 1) formed integrally with the door weatherstrip 201 into clip holes, not shown, formed in the weatherstrip holding portion 102 of the door 101, or by adhering the weatherstrip 201 to the weatherstrip holding portion 102 with an adhesive or an adhesive tape. However, these weatherstrip mounting methods are disadvantageous because more man-hours are needed to mount the weatherstrip to the door during manufacture.
Under these circumstances, a weatherstrip is proposed in Japanese Provisional Utility Model Publication No. 4-119714, which has a main portion thereof provided with a sealing lip and an installation seat thereof adapted to be fixed to the weatherstrip holding portion of a door. As shown in FIG. 2, this weatherstrip 201 includes a corner-molded portion 210 mounted to a corner portion 110 of the door and an extrusion-molded portion 211 mounted to a portions of the door other than at corner 110.
By means of injection vulcanization molding, the installation seat, made of non-foamable solid rubber, and the main portion, made of sponge rubber, of the corner-molded portion 210 are formed integrally with the extrusion-molded portion 211. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 212 designates a coupled portion between the corner-molded portion 210 and the extrusion-molded portion 211.
In the weatherstrip 201, the installation seat of the corner-molded portion 210 is made of non-foamable solid rubber, to thereby provide the installation seat with a suitable rigidity. This permits the corner-molded portion 210 to sufficiently withstand force applied thereto at the time of door closure, so that deviation of the corner-molded portion from an original installation position relative to the corner portion 110 of the door is prevented. The suitably rigid installation seat can also improve the manufacturing efficiency of attaching the weatherstrip 201 to the corner portion 110. Further, the weatherstrip 201 has its portions made of sponge rubber, other than the installation seat of the corner-molded portion 210, so that a sufficient sealing property of the weatherstrip is secured.
However, further improvement has been demanded in preventing weatherstrip displacement caused by repetitive opening and closing actions of a body component and in manufacturing efficiency of the installation of the weatherstrip to a body aperture or a body component.
In addition, a worker sometimes applies a large pulling force to a weatherstrip while attaching the weatherstrip to a body aperture or a body component such as a door. In this case, a corner portion of the weatherstrip can be deviated from its original installation position relative to a door sash toward either the front side or the rear side of the door sash, as shown in FIG. 2, depending on the direction in which the pulling force is applied.
To solve such a problem, a weatherstrip proposed in Japanese Provisional Utility Model Publication No. 6-39538 is comprised of a basic portion, a hollow seal portion, and a lip. The basic portion is fitted into an engaging recess formed in a holding portion of a door sash. The seal portion and the lip are formed integrally with the basic portion. Further, an insert metal formed with clip holes is embedded in a corner portion of the weatherstrip. By inserting clips into the clip holes, the insert metal is fixed to the door sash, to thereby prevent deviation or slippage of the weatherstrip relative to the door sash.
However, it is difficult for a worker to insert the clips into the clip holes of the insert metal. Accordingly, the efficiency in installing the weatherstrip on the door sash is low. Further, the rubber weatherstrip can easily be deformed, and hence the insert metal is sometimes moved in the weatherstrip as a result of repetitive opening and closing of the door. Thus, deviation of the weatherstrip from its original installation position is still possible. This necessitates reattachment of the weatherstrip. Further, if the insert metal is greatly moved so that the weatherstrip is damaged, complete replacement of the damaged weatherstrip with a new weatherstrip is required. In such cases, it is necessary to detach the clips from the clip holes. The reattachment and replacement of the weatherstrip, including detaching and inserting the clips from and into the clip holes, disadvantageously takes a lot of time and labor.